Requiem for a Businessman
by IAmAFuckmotheringVampire
Summary: We all know Rock is a tactical genius due to his performance during Roberta's second rampage in Roanapur. The question remains, where did he get those skills?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I do not own** _ **Black Lagoon**_ **or any related materials.**

 _ **Italics**_ **indicate thoughts**

"So Rock, what did you do in that year before you started college?" Benny asked. The Lagoon Company was on their way back for a pretty routine courier job and everyone was bored out of their skulls.

"Uh… Not much." Rock stammered. Benny raised an eyebrow.

"Scared to tell us something, Rocky baby?" Revy's smirk was audible in her voice. Rock's head whipped around to see her leaning against the bulkhead door to the radio room.

" _Great_ " Rock thought silently. Rock spoke agitatedly. "What? No, Revy. Some things are just private." Rock's head spun. " _Shit… She's going to beat this out of me if she has to…_ " He thought. Revy stood up and stalked closer.

"Revy…" Benny said warningly. "Don't you dare break my equipment." She rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Dutch." She remarked sarcastically. Grabbing Rock by the collar, Revy hauled him out of the room. "So… you want to tell me what you did that year?"

"I don't know why you're so interested…" Rock retorted.

"Maybe because you're hid—"Revy was cut off by Dutch.

"Revy! Get your ass up here, we got company!" The sound of machine gun fire pinging off the armor was heard throughout the ship. Revy bolted towards the deck hatch, Rock seemingly forgotten.

"Don't worry Rocky baby, we'll get back to this later…" Revy smirked as she leapt up to the deck. He sank down onto the floor, and let out a sigh of relief.

" _I have at least until tomorrow to come up with something._ " Rock thought quietly, relieved.

* * *

That night was a rough one for Rock; his past was not something he liked to dwell on. He had gone through a pack of cigarettes and was starting on another, not to mention the half-finished bottle of sake next to him. His normally immaculate apartment was a mess by his standards: bed unmade, his dress shirt and tie thrown on the floor, and an empty Chinese takeout box on his table.

Rock sat in his armchair with the TV on, not really watching. His bare chest rose and fell in slow regular breaths as his mind whirled. Ever since the showdown with Roberta and the Grey Foxes, Revy had gotten extremely curious and clingy about him. She was close to unearthing things best left buried. " _Fuck me… I can't get anyone else involved with this."_

He felt her presence before she was even in the room. He could feel the deadliness from the gun barrel pointed at him through the door. Rock pushed off with his feet and his armchair fell backwards as automatic fire ripped through the door and where he had been just a millisecond before. Rolling, Rock reached underneath his bed and grabbed a black briefcase. He bolted into the bathroom and slammed the door as a Japanese woman kicked in the remains of the door and walked into the apartment with an HK33. Her hair was died the color of blood, her attire all black and tailored for efficiency of movement while being modest.

Hearing a click from the bathroom, she dove behind the upturned armchair as a suppressed rifle started firing through the door. The rounds punched right through her cover and her chest, she died almost instantly. The bullet holed bathroom door opened as Rock stepped out with a Vintorez sniper rifle. He put a final 9x39mm SP-5 round in her head, his normally warm brown eyes cold.

Rock collapsed onto the floor a minute later, sobbing.

* * *

"Where's Rock? He's never late." Benny spoke with a hint of worry. He had told Rock that he should stay in the office's spare room for safety's sake. Rock was the only one too stubborn to carry a gun.

"I have no idea, Benny. I have a bad feeling though. Revy?" Dutch spoke with a conviction usually reserved for when a mission became a cluster fuck. "We're going to Rock's place. Do you know where it is?" Revy tossed down the magazine she was reading.

"Yeah, let's go. Rock probably pissed off the wrong guy with his businessman routine. We'll most likely need to save his ass…" Revy stood, rolling her eyes. Dutch started for the door, grabbing his revolver on the way out.

They pulled up in the now repaired Plymouth, Revy led the way up the stairs. When she saw the busted open door to Rock's apartment, she pulled her guns and pressed to the wall. Dutch followed suit and Benny slowly backed down the stairs. Revy hand signaled the plan of attack: Dutch goes right after Revy goes left, he clears the bathroom while she clears the kitchen.

Revy burst from cover and rushed the apartment, only to stop dead and for Dutch to come to a screeching halt directly behind her. "Fuckin' A…" Revy breathed, her jaw dropping. Dutch stood there wordlessly. If it weren't for his glasses, anyone looking would have seen absolute shock in his eyes.

Rock was sitting cross-legged, a burned out cigarette dangling from his mouth, with the body of a Japanese woman with dyed red hair next to his overturned armchair, a thousand-yard-stare on his face. What really threw Revy and Dutch was the rifle: in a million years they never expected this.

* * *

Rock sat in the Lagoon office, his thousand-yard-stare still there. "They found me." A mirthless chuckle escaped him. "Took them long enough."

"Who, Rock?" Dutch looked at Rock like a parent does at a schoolyard bully.

"The North Koreans." Revy, Dutch, and Benny sucked in a collective breath.

"Fuck…" Dutch groaned. "Just what we need, a rouge state after our blood. You have a lot of explaining to do Rock."

"I was in the last year of high school. My family expected me to go to college, I thought I was going to as well. That's when a representative of the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office approached me with an offer: work for them and do good deeds for my country, I believed them. They trained me to shoot with this." Rock gestured to the briefcase next to him. "They taught strategy and tactics. I learned espionage and counter-espionage. Then, they deployed me to North Korea."

"I saw things that would make even Revy's blood run cold, I did things that make me vomit when I recall them now. I killed innocent people because I thought I was doing the right thing. In the end, I don't know if I made any difference. All I know is that I just want to forget…" Rock buried his face in his hands. "All I want is to forget! What I want to forget most…" Rock's voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "…is what I did on the boat…"

The remainder of Rock's story took an hour. He had infiltrated a prison ship off the shore of Nampo in North Korea. The ship was a concentration camp. His description of the atrocities committed there caused Benny to run to bathroom and empty his breakfast into the toilet, Revy to look green and Dutch to look faint.

In the end, Rock killed everyone. He killed the prisoners because that was the only way he could ever release them from their suffering. He killed the soldiers in the most painful way possible because they deserved it. After that, he quit. He was provided with a new identity and a college education. His backstory was airtight, if anyone started inquiring they would find nothing to suggest he was completely made up.

The Lagoon Company sat there, stunned. Rock stood up. "I'm going home, Sawyer should be done by now." He picked up his briefcase with his Vintorez. "Just so you guys know, I just committed high treason by telling you that. I'm sorry I never told you. I just wanted to try to move on and not burden you with my past. This was supposed to be redemption, but I guess that doesn't exist in this world. "

* * *

Rock placed the briefcase under his bed and collapsed onto it. His past was back to haunt him and wouldn't let go until he killed everyone who remembered it or was dead himself. Closing his eyes, Rock decided to worry in the morning and let his nightmares do their thing.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I do not own _Black Lagoon_ or any related materials.**

 ** _Italics_ indicate thoughts**

 **I've been having a stroke of inspiration lately... enjoy.**

Rock's alarm went off at 7:00 am sharp, per usual. Instead of the usual slamming of a fist into the snooze button from the bed, a hand reached from the ground and turned it off. "34… 35… 36…" Rock continued his sit-ups. He had woken early, back in the mindset from his espionage work. Rock had let himself go a little over the years, and he needed to be in peak shape.

Rock moved on to pushups while he considered his plans for the day. " _First, I need to check in with Dutch. After that, if we don't have a job, I'll go see Balalaika about obtaining ammo for my rifle. I need a lot of practice, I won't survive long unless I'm in top form._ " He thought over the remaining details as he finished his workout. Rock took a quick shower and made himself a protein shake. At 7:30 am, he was out the door with his briefcase and was at the office at 8:00 sharp.

* * *

He let himself in to the office and stopped dead. Bullet holes covered the walls and 9mm shell casings littered the floor. Revy was passed out on the couch, her guns still in her hands. Rock slowly edged out of the office and made his way downstairs. Dutch had just pulled up.

"We slept on the boat Rock." Dutch jerked his thumb towards the Black Lagoon's berth. "Revy was mighty pissed last night. Benny's still back there, terrified. I'm only here because I knew you'd come here. Revy try to shoot you?" Rock shook his head as he put his briefcase down.

"I'm sorry about all this… I'll quit if you want." Dutch laughed at that. "What's so funny?" Rock shouted.

"We find out you were the Japanese James Bond in your past life and you're still the fucking same as ever…" Dutch shook his head. "I don't know how you do it." Rock shrugged.

"I repress a lot of those memories. It's not healthy to dwell on the past." The thousand-yard-stare returned. Dutch snapped his fingers in front of Rock's face. "Wha-? Oh, sorry about that… Anyway, I just try to be the person I wish I was." Dutch nodded at that.

"Makes sense. Well, you have rest of the day to do that, no work today. Me and Benny have to do some maintenance on the Lagoon." Rock nodded and picked up his briefcase.

"I have some business I'd like to attend to today, anyway. I guess this all works out." Rock turned to walk away.

"Be careful out there, Rock." Rock looked back.

"Of course, Dutch."

* * *

"My, my, Rock. You certainly are full of surprises…" Balalaika examined the Vintorez in Rock's briefcase with a practiced eye. "May I?" Balalaika asked, following the ancient custom of never picking up some else's weapon without their permission. She carefully removed the main body from the briefcase, then secured the integral suppressor onto the barrel, and attached the scope. Shouldering the rifle, Balalaika racked the action.

Rock stood patiently. " _I get it… I own a very nice piece of Soviet engineering. Can you please stop the nostalgia?_ " He thought, his face impassive. "Fond memories, Ms. Balalaika?"

"Why yes, Rock. I took part in a black operation in Chechnya and we had Spetznas support on that one. They carried these, and they punched through body armor like it was tissue paper…" Balalaika disassembled the weapon and nestled it back into the briefcase. "I take it you're here for ammo?"

"You would be correct. I believe you have the necessary connections."

"Of course we do, Rock. How does $300 US for 800 rounds sound?" She closed Rock's briefcase.

"If they arrive within a three days and are SP-5s, then we have a deal."

* * *

The shouting could be heard on the entire street. "The fuck, Rock! You lied to us, you lied to me!" Revy screamed. "I thought you were an actually good person in this shithole world. I guess I was wrong!"

"I'm sorry that I'm not your white knight! News flash: people aren't perfect! Do you know the nightmares I have? I relive the worst day of my life every! Single! Fucking! Night!" Revy fell silent.

"You see them? Everyone you've killed?" She whispered. Rock nodded in response.

"I remember 26 military officers and 174 innocent civilians and political prisoners. I can see every face… they all ask me 'why?' every night, and every night I don't have a good enough answer." Rock regained his stare.

"I guess you really are you, still innocent in a way. Killing isn't easy for you, you hate it. I guess I really didn't think…"

"Revy… can you promise me something?" Revy looked over at Rock.

"What?"

"If I start enjoying what is to come, put a bullet in the back of my head when it's over."


End file.
